


Optimism at its Finest

by CaptainNabari



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Action, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Fluff, Laviyuu Week 2018, M/M, aka a finder, eventually? damn i don't quite remember on how i planned to end this--, just one original character tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 09:38:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16851649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainNabari/pseuds/CaptainNabari
Summary: It's been nothing but shitty weather but at least there's one person that tries to look at the brighter side of things. If anyone could see the damned sun through the heavy clouds and torrential rain.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> DAY 1 of Laviyuu Week 2018: Rain | Spring, Growth, Tears, Sorrow, Life

“April showers brin’ May flowers, Yuu~!” 

Lavi laughs, almost sing-songy and just enough to be teeter on annoying. His mood at the moment is the complete opposite of the weather outside. The rain continues to fall, the harsh _dot a dot dot_ repeats against the windows and sometimes the frames rattle as the wind blows. They sit inside their rented room, trapped as the weather refuses to relent. The redhead once tried to use his Innocence to clear the weather two days earlier. 

It only stopped for half a minute before it poured with greater intensity. 

“How the fuck is this a shower?” Kanda doesn’t see how the stupid rabbit could keep that optimistic mindset as of right now. Their mission is practically stalled, and the Akuma are probably continuing their search as if the torrential fall was nothing more than a skip through some sprinkler. He has half the mind to stomp out of the rickety inn right now and leave the other behind. The idiot might get sick for being out in the rain, but he wouldn’t. The last thing he likes is wasting time by sitting around and doing nothing. 

Lavi’s left eye lingers on him for a moment, reading something before the redhead flops back onto his bed. “You’re takin’ things way too literally again, Yuu~ Just think ‘bout it, the rain hasn’t let up so the Akuma probably didn’t find anythin’ yet. They woulda by now knowin’ that we’re here.” Yuu also doesn’t get how the other could be simultaneously paranoid yet dangerously laid-back. Innocence is at stake, better warmth and food back at the headquarters, and all the other wants was to take it easy. “Sure, the last couple o’ days are crappy, but maybe tomorrow it gets better.” 

Tomorrow, Lavi says, and Kanda is hardly the kind of guy to be thinking about tomorrow, the short-term or long-term one. There are enough reminders of the inevitability–a wilting flower and the creeping ink that stretches like thorns with each wound. 

“I doubt it.“


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DAY 2 of Laviyuu Week: Fog | Vague, Out Of Reach, Mystery, Eerie, Secrets

Lavi is a master of sleeping through nearly everything. It is a strange contradiction. On some nights he’s the first to fall asleep but is the first to jolt awake at the slightest noise. It’s a product of being a Bookman in training. Sleep is scarce and not responding fast enough was a danger best minimized. 

On other nights he spends are long and quiet, staring at the bottom of Bookman’s bunk or the ceiling. And it only stays quiet until Bookman starts snoring. He can drown the sounds out with his thoughts, thinking and thinking until he doesn’t quite recall just _when_ he fell asleep between the repetitive snores and half-drowsy state. It could take the entire building to be shaking before he finally wakes. 

This night? It is between the two: the continued downpour against the window lulls him into that sinking, comfy feeling in between the linen. He feels ready to sleep, and he wants to stay asleep. After all, he did promise Yuu that the next morning they’ll start looking for the Innocence themselves, ‘weather be damned’ as so Yuu eloquently put it. 

Not like today was a busy day. Locked inside an inn, filled with patrons that too wanted to avoid the rain, Yuu kept to himself away from all the crowd and noise while Lavi tried to go over what he admittedly already knew with the poor finder that got dragged into this mission with them. 

Nothing to be exhausted over, and yet it takes much more willpower than needed to turns to his side. He’s contemplating if it is going to be one of those nights where he does feel wary but his mind is going to insist on trying to never settle. That was the worse, wanting to sleep but never can. 

So he focuses on what he does have in front of him instead of what’s in his mind, eye staring at the other bed in the room, watching to see just how slight Yuu’s chest rises and falls under the sheets. Lavi muses on how it’s less easy tell if he’s actually sleeping or not with a little more than two feet in between their beds. He knows though, that between training in the forest into the night to waking up a few hours later that Yuu is tucking in for the night much earlier than he would have. 

“Hey, Yuu…?”

It comes out as quieter than he intended, but that’s alright. Silence follows the quiet calling of his name, but he could see a second’s pause in Yuu’s breath before it evens out again. Great, so he woke him up. The other makes no movement, probably more content with pretending to be asleep so Lavi could talk his ears off under the pretense of talking into the night to no one. But not tonight. 

They know that there’s still things they need to talk about, but pretending there isn’t was preferable. They both have things to talk about, to reveal but neither are willing to be the first. Lavi thinks that maybe he should just say to hell with it and crawl up next to Yuu, but decides to just stay in his own bed for the night and roll onto his back again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DAY 3 of Laviyuu Week 2018: Sunshine | Summer, Heat, Passion, Fire, Joy

The last thing Lavi remembers before finally drifting asleep is hoping that the rain would at least stop for a good hour or two. Instead, he’s groaning because he still hears the rain pelting onto the window glass. With some creative imagination, Lavi’s new hope is that maybe the whole town is flooded, the inn’s their new boat, and they could just call it another day. If there is a sea outside the door, Yuu wouldn’t be the first to go jumping in. Except it wasn’t. The other is already up, most likely downstairs given his knack for being an early riser, and in his sleepy daze Lavi thinks that he shouldn’t keep him waiting any longer. Never mind what he said earlier, that ‘tomorrow’, now effectively today, was going to be better.

At least he is able to sleep in a little later today, Yuu was merciful enough to let it happen. One of the few small blessings he could get in the middle of war, war, and more war.

It takes a couple of moments--the majority of it consists of Lavi battling his bedhead but to no avail--before he’s making his way down the steps, blinking away the last remnant of sleep. He sees Yuu, sitting at one of the tables with their breakfast, and flashes his characteristic grin. He just gets the gesture of a scoff sent back to him, but his mood doesn’t falter and instead just slides up into the chair right across from his partner.

“Bet’cha glad to see me up n’ ready, yeah?”

He hears the click of a tongue, and sees those dark eyes look away. They act as normal as ever, pretending that they almost didn’t try to invite a space for emotional vulnerability last night. Their legs--knees, foot, and all in between--brush and bump under the small table, but they don’t complain about it. Long legs never quite fare well against low furniture and even lower seats. Lavi gets his portion of the meal since Yuu already ate: scrambled eggs and a slice of bread. He eats the eggs just fine but picks at the bread. He swears that maybe there’s signs of growing mold--it’s hard to get any shipment of flour that isn’t ruined when it’s raining like the supposed biblical forty days of flood. The last thing he wants is an upset stomach and a _real_ reason to be stuck in bed.

Their finder, Manilo, is waiting for them when they were ready to leave, pants and boots soiled by the mud. He probably did some preemptive scouting around. Lavi feels bad about it, cause all he and Yuu have been doing was being stuck in an inn, but reminds himself that it’s basically the finder’s job to do most of the investigation.

“The rain seems the heaviest near the well,” He tells them. Yuu remains to be as anti-social as ever, purely focusing on marching through the wind and rain, so it’s up to Lavi to do the talking. As always.

“Is that so? Guess not a lotta people need ta visit it with all th’ rain. Just put a barrel outside in ya got enough to last ya.” And he briefly thinks that anyone hanging around it would be a flag for suspicion. It’s obvious from the rain soaking them to the bones that Innocence is the cause of this unnatural weather phenomenon. As water proof as Johnny tries to make their uniforms, the rain slides down his face and neck, and his shirt just soaks up the water entirely. You’d think that with all the heavy downpour that they’d be freezing, but no. Humidity is the enemy to most living things and it makes the sticky clothes and heavy uniforms feel that much more unbearable. Even his own hair, held up by his current favorite headband sags and sticks to his brows.

“Is this it?” It’s a question that Yuu asks once they reach the well, but his eyes moves to survey the area around it instead. The rain is coming down harder than before and it feels warmer than it should be, like lukewarm water, gross and losing all of the refreshingness it should have. But the well itself is just... plain. No glowly stones or flashy design. Lavi thinks it feels like a let down.

“Ya think if we just smashed the thing we’d get the Innocence that easily?” The thought of lugging the entire well should be impossible, but it’s safer to say that impossible is a word he shouldn’t use because of what Innocence can do alone. Lavi approaches recklessly, leaning against the stone brim of the well and peering in. “What didya know, the well’s--!” The finder’s shout catches him off guard and his palm slips off the wet rock.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DAY 4 of Laviyuu Week 2018: Lightning | Darkness, Energy, Danger, Tension, Evanescent

The only thing that’s keeping Lavi from getting shitfaced with the dirt and rocks--or whatever is in the well--is the scarf he always wear around him. He might be gasping for hair, hands reaching towards his throat to try to pry in some space in between for him to breath, but Yuu catching him by the scarf was what ultimately saves his clumsy ass.

“Get a hold of yourself, idiot.” It’s only when he feels stable enough on his feet did the other let go. He sorely rubs his throat, coughing a little. Yeah, they’re near the Innocence and there could be Akuma stalking them right at this moment, waiting for them to actually find it first before ambushing. 

_Gee Lavi, you’re so careless._ He’ll mentally kick himself later.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I think. Gimme a second,” He tries to laugh it off, and takes a literal second to settle himself, “Maybe next time we can avoid the chokin’?” And Yuu subtly eases a little after that, because if he’s fine talking too much as usual, then all is well.

He also scoffs a little bit, in an attempt to cover up for any signs of relief that Lavi’s okay, “There shouldn’t be a next time.”

“With my luck and one eye?” Lavi’s grin turns wry, “We should make a bet, yeah? How long it takes before ya save my ass again.”

With their banter out of the way their attention returns to the source of all their troubles, especially to what Lavi noticed before he nearly fell right in. Manilo, who took the time to actually inspect the well, blinks into the darkness within it, and speaks “It’s empty.”

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted ta point out before,” Lavi makes vague gestures in the air, “that happened.” He returns to his spot, but this time careful to not be leaning against anything. “It ain’t hard to connect that maybe this rain got somethin’ to do with the well’s water bein’ gone, right?” Yuu joins them, arms cross and dark eyes leering inside. Lavi guesses that he’s probably thinking on needing to actually check it out.

Even if he avoided falling in, it looks like he can’t avoid _going_ in. “I’ll be the first to check, ‘kay?” He doubts that the well was going to be a short fall where someone could just jump in and not break a leg or twist an ankle. Everything’s too goddamn wet to be using a torch or lighting a lantern, so he takes it with a little bit of optimism that isn’t a well-shark or well-troll waiting for him at the bottom.

It’s easy to lower himself into the well given what his Innocence could do. Iron Hammer slowly shrinks and what little light that exists on such a stormy morning becomes less and less the deeper he goes. Thankfully, he feels his feet touch against the hammer head of his weapon and knows that he’s reached the bottom. He looks up, squinting a little to focus at the mouth of the well. “Finally made it down! Seems good for now!” Right, investigating. He could barely see crap, even more so considering the obvious. A hand presses against the stone walls: wet, most likely from the rain that’s falling in, but there’s barely enough water to even reach over his shins. He also expects to hear a crunch, or anything breaking beneath his step when he finally gets off of his hammer, but there’s none.

_That’s good at least,_ he thinks to himself, because he doesn’t need to know that the well were everyone drinks from was some kind of mass grave. He feels around even more, and stone abruptly shift to old, rotted wood. That gets his brows quirking, because what the heck was a whole giant board of hammered wood doing down here getting nasty and soaked? 

The space is tight, barely enough for two people to fit and that’s only if they stared face to face with each other. So Lavi presses his back against the opposite wall, hopes he isn’t gonna end up collapsing a town’s one source of water, before letting the hammer extend out. The wood gives into the pressure exerted, breaks and yet the weapon just keeps going. 

“What?” Lavi blinks, because he half expected that his little crazy suspicion that there would be something behind that wooden panel would be nothing. After all, unless the well was empty in the first place, then there’s no way something like this could have been hidden. “Er, hey Yuu? Mani?”--as Mani is indeed Manilo’s new nickname--“There’s uh, alright it sounds crazy but there’s like a tunnel here. It ain’t normal cause someone was hidin’ it.” He doesn’t hear whatever Yuu and Manilo would decide until they finally do say something loud enough so he spends the time feeling the edge of the newly revealed entrance. The brickwork for the well stops and the edges are clean as it continues into the tunnel. Yeah, definitely man made and definitely with the intention of having this entrance in mind. He has no idea how exactly they built this, and would have marveled at whatever engineering ingenuity the town came up with, but a voice from above knocks him out of his thoughts. 

“I’m heading down then.” A concise warning and Lavi carefully moves out of the way, making sure that there wasn’t a sudden drop in the tunnel. He’d rather not trip and for it to be the second time he nearly end up with a concussion or more during this mission. 

He watches Yuu slide down--back pressed against one side of the wall and foot planted against the other side--and as expected he lands spectacularly. “Wow, so badass Yuu~” He teases and down here it’s hard to make out the expression on the other’s face, even if he had the time to adjust to the darkness. Lavi likes to pretend that his partner just rolls his eyes at him. It takes a little bit of shuffling and brushing against each other, but Yuu takes the lead while he follows. It’s their routine at this point, even when they’re not in a dark, cramped tunnel in the bottom of a well that could lead to who knows where. 

They walk in the darkness with their Innocence in hand. Lavi occasionally checks behind him to make sure that there wasn’t anything else that was following them. He, in all expected clumsiness, also bumps into Yuu’s back a little too often when he does, but never does it get a complaint or anger. The one time he does nearly knock himself over was when the other does a complete stop, and Lavi is going to ask what’s up. 

Until he looks forward and realize that it’s not pitch black anymore. Cause who the hell would have though they’d find some drained up fountain that was glowing an unnatural green.


End file.
